Experts: Pastor burnout results from unrealistic expectations

Saturday

Jan 21, 2012 at 8:44 PM

Jeff Brumley

The Rev. Brian Campbell, members of his congregation will tell you, can really bring it as a preacher and he leads an inspiring Bible study. He also dutifully makes the weekly rounds of hospitals and nursing homes.

But there's one part of his job that Campbell, the pastor at Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church, admits he does poorly: Taking care of himself.

Campbell, 38, said he doesn't exercise enough (or at all, most of the time) or spend enough time with his wife and 6-year-old daughter. He struggles for downtime, doesn't have an official day off and said he rarely uses all of his 2 1/2 weeks of vacation time.

"I'm terrible at taking it," he said.

What Campbell is learning after nine years in the pulpit, and what experts and other clergy say, is that a consistent failure to attend to their personal spiritual, physical and family needs is one of the leading causes of pastor burnout. It's a phenomenon that's always existed but gotten worse in an age when instant communications and social media make a congregation's spiritual leader easier to reach regardless of the time of day.

Ministerial burnout is so common that the annual Pastors Conference sponsored by First Baptist Church in Jacksonville features sessions and speakers geared to help religious leaders cope with criticism and conflict. This year's conference runs Thursday through Jan. 29, with several pre-conference programs beginning Wednesday.

While participants learn techniques for handling difficult situations, most already know the harsh realities that come with leading a congregation, including parishioners' unrealistic expectations of their availability and ignorance of how much their pastors do.

'I work for a living'

While there are more resources now to help pastors, studies show they experience higher rates of depression, hypertension and weight gain - and lower morale - than those they are serving, said Daniel Sherman, a former pastor and founder of the online ministry PastorBurnout.com.

His website lists some alarming statistics taken from a variety of surveys and publications: 80 percent of ministers say their jobs negatively affect their families; almost 60 percent say they would leave ministry if they had another vocation; and about 90 percent say they work more than 50 hours a week.

Sherman said he regularly had parishioners in his non-denominational churches joke that they wish they only had to work on Sunday mornings.

"They don't realize that Sunday is the easiest day of the week," he said. "And most pastors don't take off more than one day a week."

Campbell has heard the criticism, often in the sideways form of comments like "some of us have to work for a living." But his weeks are busy. Preparing a sermon or Bible study takes 10-15 hours and he is constantly being called to the hospital or providing crisis or marriage counseling.

"I say my work is normally 24/7, because I get called all time of the day and night," Campbell said.

The pressures to be available are exacerbated by technology and society's addiction to work, said Ryan Reeves, dean and an assistant professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Jacksonville.

"We have a culture of workaholism, and we expect our spiritual leaders to be doing the same thing," Reeves said.

It also comes from a growing belief that pastors should be the personal counselors of each member of the congregation, who tend to call their pastor at the slightest experience of stress.

"Most people can't discern between a need and a want," he said, adding that many "crises" are just a desire to pick the pastor's brain for a problem they've encountered.

"The problem is that pastors develop a martyr complex and kill themselves for the sake of wants, not needs."

What makes it worse is some pastors believe they are obligated to answer every call and fail to understand that Scripture demands they take care of themselves, Reeves said.

The New Testament gives plenty of examples of Jesus going off to solitary places to pray and meditate, he said, and the Bible as a whole promotes the idea of a Sabbath so that people - including clergy - can recharge.

Taking ownership

Some of the responsibility for avoiding burnout lies with ministers, who must communicate their needs to their congregations, said Imam Joe Bradford, the spiritual leader at the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida.

Bradford said he's already flirting with burnout since becoming the imam at Jacksonville's largest mosque in late 2010. He said he logs about 70 hours a week leading prayer services, preparing his sermons, holding counseling sessions and conducting funerals and weddings.

An added demand on his time are the plethora of speaking requests at churches, colleges and civic organizations curious about this Jacksonville native who speaks fluent Arabic and studied Sharia law in Saudi Arabia.

It sometimes results in complaints that "the imam is never at the mosque," Bradford said.

"Really? Never at the mosque? Or is it just not when it's convenient for you?" he asked.

But the imam doesn't blame worshipers. He said he's learning the solution lies with him.

"I can pretty much attribute 90 percent of all the drama and stress from issues of job performance to the fact the job is not communicated properly to people," he said.

It's also about drawing boundaries and, sometimes, making hard decisions about what kinds of activities not to include in one's ministry, said the Very Rev. Kate Moorehead, dean of St. John's Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Jacksonville.

Moorehead sits on the boards of several nonprofits that were started by the congregation. She also participates in speaking engagements and is writing her fourth book. She preaches and oversees a large pastoral staff.

And then there's the family. She and her husband are raising three boys, ages 13, 11 and 7. For Moorehead, it's meant forgoing some church engagements and delegating the role of spiritual director to others in the parish.

"Although I love one-on-one spiritual direction, I cannot afford to spend one hour a week with one person anymore," she said. "It's kind of heartbreaking in a way."

Campbell said he sees the writing on the wall. In order for him to have a long, enjoyable career in ministry, he needs to start using his vacation time and vows to do so in 2012.

"My wife and I are going to go on a cruise, and I'm actually taking more family time to avoid burnout," he said.

But it's not easy. His 250-member congregation has many needs and he is their pastor, so focusing more on himself won't be easy.

"It's a balancing act," Campbell said. "You just have to say 'Today, I'm going to do me.' "

jeff.brumley@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4310

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